Jericho

by Nini Church

  A gentle laugh in her tone, a lilt to her words, “Oh, lord, – he is the father. Well then, he won’t be trouble will he? Last thing we need is a fainter.”

  Reno chuckled and stepped back to let the beautiful Aili enter the house first. There were lotsa pluses to being chivalrous. Tight skirt hugging her sweet ass, a cheek for each of his hands, the delicate and lickable turn to her calf and killer heels – hell, it was all good from back here.

  Conn slammed the front door, snapping Reno back to reality as his left shoulder drove into the archway beyond the door. He hadn't been paying attention, but was riveted on the good doctor's sweet ass, her legs, her heels, her sway...

  The big Scot reached out, moving fast with one hand splayed, to slap Reno hard on the back of the head. He hissed with fury, “Don’t even think about it ye fecking rotter.”

  Reno elbowed the Scot and Conn rewarded him with a painful oof as he slid out of Reno’s reach.

  Aili smirked. “Anyone care to lead the way?”

  Reno refused to step forward. No fucking way. This was opportunity deluxe.

  Con shoved past him to take Aili’s elbow, leading her up the front staircase to the second floor.

  Reno stayed behind the two, working hard not to trip up the steps, eyes glued to her ass, legs and shoes and back again – hell again – it was impossible to stop his utter admiration of the feast before him.

  In too short a time, they reached the top, but that didn’t stop his imagination from turning over possibilities. Ones that made Rock Hard tremble. Oh yeah, it had been a while since he had total satisfaction.

  And – Aili had her name written all over that for him.

  Reno finally moved ahead to knock on the bedroom door before swinging it open. “Doc is here,” he announced as Aili slipped past.

  The door closed right behind her.

  In Reno's face.

  Conn and Reno wondered what to do with themselves.

  Waiting was a killer.

  Shortly and abruptly, Zulu was ejected from the room, mumbling, “…burn sage, wild grass. We hunt. Fresh meat smoking, hot fire…”

  Brows raised high, Reno cut into the warrior’s reverie, “Zu? You need to get a grip real fast here.”

  Zulu’s big brown eyes turned on Reno, the beads woven into his long black hair clattering softly. A tribal warrior, born from an ancient line of chiefs, Zulu was also part of Jericho’s elite team and he had a few unusual skills taught exclusively to the males of his tribe. A killer who preferred his bare hands to any other kind of weapon, Zulu was a formidable opponent.

  Abe’s scream cut the air. “Bear, out.”

  Inside and outside the bedroom everyone braced for the massive beast.

  “What the feck!” charged out of Dr. Aili McFeerson. “Somebody better start explaining.” Eyes riveted on the big bear, she commanded, "Out. Now!"

  One roar and pounding came towards the closed bedroom doors.

  Reno pulled back, grabbing Zulu as Conn shoved both doors open and jumped wide.

  Instantly, Bear stilled at the edge of the door, taking a huff of air then two before sauntering – all five thousand plus pounds – into the hallway, working his massive frame to the side, making a move for Reno who got out of his way fast, shifting into the bedroom and closing both doors on the crowd outside.

  Jericho focused solely on Abe, contractions coming hard and strong, even ignoring the good doctor’s demand for an explanation.

  Reno caught Aili’s eye. “That’s Bear. He’s cool, he's part of…Abe. I vouch.”

  It sounded lame and Reno saw it in her expression and lingering in those adorable chocolate brown eyes.

  “We don’t need a crowd in here, including you. If you can’t help, you need to leave. We’ve got a situation here.” Aili’s chocolate brown eyes flicked back to Abe. “I need to be in theatre.”

  Reno, the consummate chameleon simply inquired, “How soon?”

  “Next hour. We might have a little more than that.” Aili glanced at Jericho first, then Abe – taking in her somewhat grey pallor. Without thinking, she blurted “We’ve got two.”

  For the first time in his life, Reno sputtered, “Two? Two what?”

  “Babies. Twins.” Aili’s lilting chuckle shivered over his body. She could talk all night and he would come and come.

  He winked and left her to it.

  Her sweet trusting smile blew the roof off for him – he held it inside, savoring the possibilities, the what-ifs and why-the-fuck-nots.

  Outside, he explained what they needed.

  And how many were due to arrive.